Foxtel coming to Telstra's T-Box

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 08 February 2011 16:13

Your IT - Entertainment

Telstra and Foxtel have signed an agreement under which 30 of Foxtel's "best" channels - including FOX8, Discovery, Fox Sports Play, Movie One and Showtime Premiere - will be available on the Telstra T-Box unmetered via either a BigPond ADSL or cable broadband service.

The Telstra T-Box currently offers customers the ability to pause, rewind and record live free-to-air TV and to store up to 100 hours of content. According to Telstra, "After launch this feature is intended to be available to all the Foxtel on T-Box channels.

Telstra CEO, David Thodey, said there were close to 120,000 T-Boxes in Australian homes, "There's more to come for the T-Box in 2011 with interactive features such as BigPond Sports Game Analyser, games and increased integration with the T-Hub and other devices."

Foxtel CEO, Kim Williams, said, "With this new offer we are able - through Telstra - to reach new customer segments. For those Australians who may not yet be ready to take the full Foxtel service - with its choice of over 200 channels, 20 HD channels and full digital recorder functionality - or those who may want to focus on a condensed service and Internet delivery, then Foxtel on T-Box offers a superb alternative that will connect strongly with their wants and needs."

Telstra BigPond will also become Foxtel's preferred Internet service provider and will extend unmetered Foxtel via broadband content for BigPond ADSL and cable customers to other Telstra supported devices. Telstra said: "More Telstra supported devices, including IPTV-enabled televisions, will be announced in the months ahead."

Foxtel presently offers 38 channels to PC via any ISP and users of its IQ box are able to get a range of movies and on-demand content over any broadband connection and quota free over BigPond broadband services.

Foxtel on T-Box will be available only in metropolitan areas where Foxtel subscription services are already available. The service will be launched in May. Packages and pricing, as well as the full channel line-up will be announced closer to launch.